Rescuing Ship
by Jyuoa
Summary: Occurs between Pier Pressure and Pet Project. After a minor incident, Ship runs away and is captured. Now the gang, including Julie, have to rescue him from enemy hands.
1. Chapter 1

Ben arrived at Julie's house after soccer practice. She left a message on his cell phone. He rang the doorbell. "Hi, Ben."

"Sorry if I'm late, soccer practice ran longer than I thought." Ben explained.

"It's okay." Julie said. "It must be tough to be the school's top superstar and a hero."

"Are you sure you're cool with that?" He asked.

"Like I said, being different is okay." Julie said. "Everybody has some kind of secret." They walked inside.

"So, what was the problem?" Ben asked.

"I tried to get on my computer to finish my science homework, but for some reason it's not working." Julie explained.

"Well, I'm not exactly an expert when it comes to technology." Ben pointed out.

"I know, I just thought it'd be nice to get help. I actually know a lot about computers." After a few hours of plugging in, connecting, re-wiring, and reconnecting, it finally clicked on.

"Well, I guess we're done for now." Ben said.

"Yeah, thanks for your help." Julie said. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye, Julie." Ben left. Suddenly, a green and black car pulled up in front of the house. He walked over and saw that his cousin was already inside. "What's going on?"

"There's an emergency at that old factory!" Gwen told him. Ben got in.

"There's a ton of old factories in Bellwood, how are we going to know which one it is?" He pointed out.

"I heard from a guy that there were a group of guys in armor seen there." Kevin added.

At home, Julie was finished with her report, when suddenly, the words disappeared. "Hey!" Then, almost instantly, something squeezed out of the computer. Julie remembered that Ben warned her that enemies could be anywhere ready to attack. She went to her closet and got out her tennis racket.

"My boyfriend warned me about things like this!" She said, gripping the racket. She held it, ready to strike whatever it was. Then, she heard a somewhat soft high-pitched sound. She recognized it. She dropped the racket on the floor. "Hey, what are you doing here?" She asked.


	2. Chapter 2

The group had finished taking out a group of Forever Knights and were on their way back.

"Well, that ended badly." Gwen said.

"We have really gotta work on getting through these places unnoticed." Ben said. "Then again, I didn't trip one of the jumper cables."

"How was I supposed to know they'd come running in?" Kevin protested.

"Maybe because we were in the control room." Ben pointed out, then his cell phone rang. "Hello?"

"Ben, you're not going to believe who I found hiding in my computer." Julie told him. He heard a crash in the background. "Hang on a minute." She put the phone down. "Could you please try to keep it down, I'm on the phone." She picked it up again.

"Julie? Hello?" Ben asked.

"Sorry, just had a little incident to take care of." She explained what happened.

"No way, Ship was in the computer?" Ben asked.

"That's right. I found him in there. He must've been messing with it, no wonder I couldn't get it to work." Then she turned around and Ship was gone. "That's strange, it looks like he's run off again."

"I could help you look for him." Ben offered.

"Thanks, but I'm sure he'll be fine." Julie said. "He's probably just hanging out inside the computer again."

"Okay." The line went dead.

After the group had gone separate ways, Gwen called Ben from the house. "Okay, let's meet up tomorrow and try to put the clues together."

"Good plan." Ben said. "I mean, what are they up to in that old run-down factory anyway?"

"Knowing the Forever Knights, it can't be good." Gwen pointed out.


	3. Chapter 3

As planned, the group was on their way to the lake, when suddenly, the car switched gears. "Uh, Kevin, I'm pretty sure the lake's the other way." Ben said.

"It's not me," Kevin said. He tried pressing the brake pedal, but it wouldn't stop.

"Ben, can't you do something?" Gwen asked.

"Like what? I have no idea what's going on here."

"That makes three of us." Kevin told them. "I've got no control over the car at all. It's like it has a mind of its own."

That's when it hit Ben. "Relax, it's nothing to worry about." Ben told them.

"Ben, have you lost your mind?" Gwen asked. They were near the lake now, but they were about to hit the big tree!

"Ship, stop!" Ben yelled. The car stopped just inches away. Everyone rushed out of the car. "Okay, so maybe my directions were a little off."

"What the heck is Ship anyway?" Gwen started to ask, then they heard a sound. The little symbiote had appeared in front of them.

"That's him." Ben told them.

"That's Ship?"

"I'll call Julie." Ben said. He got his phone out. "Julie, it's me. We found Ship. He kind of took us for a ride, but it's cool now."

"It's cool? He could've gotten us killed!" Kevin pointed out.

"Lighten up, Kevin."

"Hello? I'm still here!" Julie called through the phone.

"I'll call you back." Ben told her. He hung up.

"Okay, maybe you both have a point, but…" Gwen began.

"That thing only brings trouble." Kevin told them. "Ben told me about what happened at the pier."

"It was looking for help then." Gwen pointed out. "Julie told me."

"True, but it's caused trouble for everyone else since then." Kevin said. "If he doesn't stop messing around, it'll get hurt one of these days."

"Kevin, you might want to keep it down." Ben said.

"Why?"

"Because I think he heard you." Ship was moving slower than usual. He left all by himself.

"Nice going." Gwen said. "I think you hurt his feelings."

"He won't get very far." Ben pointed out. "He's really small and can barely move unless he takes over something that runs on electricity." But for some reason, he couldn't help but worry about Ship.

Ship was alone, when suddenly, he found himself trapped. He tried to call for help, but no one could hear him. The Knights ran off, and Ship was now stuck with them.


	4. Chapter 4

Julie was reading a book, when her phone went off. She gasped. She received a text that said 'Help me'.

"What could they be up to?" Ben asked.

"Knowing them, it has to be alien related." Gwen pointed out. Suddenly, the watch started beeping.

"That doesn't sound good." Ben said. A few minutes later, Julie showed up.

"Guys, I got a text a while ago with no return number."

"That's when the Omnitrix started beeping." Ben said.

"No return number and the watch going off…" Gwen put the pieces together. "Could it be that Ship is calling us for help?"

"That's gotta be it." Ben said. "He must've been captured by the Forever Knights."

"That explains why he was hiding in Julie's computer." Kevin realized. "He wasn't trying to cause trouble, he was just scared."

"This is your fault, Kevin. If you hadn't yelled at him…"

"Guys, this is serious." Gwen said. "What if they try to destroy him?"

"That's it, we have to rescue him no matter what." Ben said.

"I'm coming, too." Julie said. "He's been visiting me since the pier."

"I've gotten visits from him, too." Ben said. "But you should probably stay out of this."

"If Ship is the one who sent the text, he needs me too." Julie pointed out. "We have to hurry before it's too late."

"How are we even supposed to find him?" Gwen asked.

"That factory!" Ben realized. "Remember when we fought a bunch of them off there?"

"On it." They all got in the car and headed toward the place.

_Hang in there, Ship._ Julie thought.

"Well, here it is."

"It looks just as creepy during the day." Gwen said.

"Let's go, unless you're too scared." Ben told her. Gwen glared at him. They all headed inside.


	5. Chapter 5

The group walked through the factory. "Keep an eye out." Ben told the others. "Ship could be anywhere in here."

"This place is huge." Julie pointed out. "How are we supposed to find him?"

"I haven't gotten that far in the plan yet." Ben told her. The group remained together and continued walking.

"Gwen, can you try your power in here?" Kevin asked.

"No, my tracking ability is limited in here." Gwen told him. "I have trouble when I'm near a lot of things that don't have DNA."

Julie opened one of the doors, and found an empty room. "He's not in this one, either." She and Ben had been looking through several. They all had. When they came up with nothing, they continued down the hall.

"There's gotta be at least fifty doors here." Ben said. "There's no way we'll be able to find him."

"Don't say that." Julie said. "We will find him, I know it."

"Julie, I don't want to upset you or anything, but it might already be too late." Gwen pointed out.

"Yeah, we've been searching for how long?" Kevin turned to Ben.

"Oh, come on! You know this thing doesn't tell time!"

"How can you even make jokes at a time like this?" Julie asked.

"Yeah, focus." Gwen said. "We came here to save Ship, so either help look around, or…"

"Freeze!" In an instant, they were surrounded by Forever Knights.

"Does this happen often?" Julie asked.

"After a while, you get used to it." Ben told her. He set the dial to Chromastone and hit it.

"Chromastone!" He got in front of Julie.

Kevin absorbed the marble flooring and rushed in. Gwen fired her energy beams. "Stand back!" Julie backed away slightly from Chromastone. He channeled the energy that the Forever Knights fired at him, and fired a beam back at them. The group was at the end of the hall.

Julie saw something small inside a sphere. "Ship!" She realized.

"Get her!" Suddenly, two Knights had her trapped on both sides. The others were still handling some that followed them.

"Julie!" Chromastone saw her in trouble. She was unable to move due to shock. The Knights moved closer.


	6. Chapter 6

As the Knights surrounding Julie moved in on her, she managed to duck out of the way. "Ben, behind you!"

There were a group of Knights still after them. Gwen finally made a shield to prevent them from getting closer. "It won't last very long!" She warned.

"I found him." Julie said. She went to touch the glass, and a shock went into Ship, causing him to pass out. "Ship, I'm sorry."

"If we touch the glass, he'll be fried!" Ben realized.

"There has to be some way to get him out."

"What about this?" Gwen asked. She was standing near what appeared to be the control panel for the sphere.

"If we shut it down right, we should be able to free him." Kevin stated. The Forever Knights opened fire and the shield was beginning to crack.

"We'll keep them busy." Gwen told them, heading back over. "You guys try to free Ship." They started to fight them off.

"Do you think you can do it?" Julie asked.

"I'm no good with figuring these things out." Ben said. "But I know someone who is." He hit the watch.

"Brainstorm!" He looked at the control panel again. "The release should be this lower button." He told her. Julie pressed it and the sphere disappeared. She ran over and caught Ship.

Seeing the others in trouble, Brainstorm sent a lightning blast at the Forever Knights. A minute later, the group ran back outside and to the car. They sped way out of the area and headed back for town.

"That was really close." Ben said.

"Yeah, at least he's safe now." Julie said. Ship was still out in her arms. They stopped by Julie's house.

"So, what are we going to do about him?" Kevin asked.

"I have enough trouble keeping secrets from my parents." Ben pointed out.

"Maybe I'll keep him." Julie offered.

"Are you sure it won't be too much trouble?"

"Not at all. Besides, he's good at hiding." She pointed out.

"Ship." They turned and noticed that he'd woken up.

"He seems to be doing fine." Gwen told them. "Nothing too serious."

"Come on, Ship." Julie said. He followed her toward the house. "Thanks for helping, guys."

"Anytime." Ben said. She went in.

"Didn't she decide to tag along with us?" Kevin asked. "Ow!" Gwen had hit him. "What was that for?"

"You really don't know anything about this." She said. She walked away. Ben followed her, knowing that Ship would be safe with Julie.


End file.
